What Happens When You Miss Class?

As a baseball coach I get asked from time to time why we practice so much and why do we take a game so seriously.  I think they are both honest questions, but many people don't like my answers.

I approach baseball just as I do school.  The purpose of school is to educate young people so they can function in a society.  Whether I'm teaching English or Crafts or Baseball, my task to to make the student more knowledgeable and better after they leave my class than they were when they entered.  It isn't as simple as that, but that's the idea.

The other reason is self discipline.  And to me that is the more important task to teach. I know I was like many when I was in high school. If I were able to meet my high school self today, I wouldn't be impressed.  But I've come to realize that most of us mature and learn as we age. We learn self discipline.  I learned through sports, mostly baseball because I played it longer.

And now as a coach of many years, I have learned many more lessons.  Many of my generation in the Vietnam and post Vietnam era didn't have the military to teach us discipline.  My father's age group had the common experience of the military to help mold them, and they had the Greatest Generation to teach them in school and business.  Sports today is a more frequent commonality for young people than the military.

Why am I thinking of this?  A casual reader of the news could tell you of troubles now and ahead.  A serious look at what is happening could scare some people.  We are in for more hard times before good.  If we ever get good times.  More than ever the act of teaching self discipline appears important. And less listened to by those that need the skill. When two young men, who were scheduled play a significant role in our last game, chose to miss a class on game day, they aren't allowed to play.  The outcome of the game is irrelevant.  The lesson they learn is important.  And the learning is what will help them in the future when hard events are happening.

So we make practice hard, we require hair to be cut short, and you have to attend every class every day.  Because Baseball is just a game, but life is for real.